Terrain at a worksite commonly undergoes geographic alteration by machines through, for example, digging, grading, leveling, or otherwise preparing the terrain for various uses. In some applications, it may be useful to map the terrain during this process. For instance, it may be advantageous to map terrain for use in identifying elevation and contour information at various points within a worksite. Having an accurate and complete terrain map may assist an operator in controlling the machine or, in some applications, facilitate autonomous control of the machines in navigating through the worksite.
One system for mapping terrain is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0330550 (the '550 publication) to Jensen et al. The '550 publication describes a system having a machine and a controller configured to determine a steering parameter and a speed of a component of the machine. The controller is also configured to determine a geometry and a grade of a path on terrain along which the machine travels based on the steering parameter and the speed of the component of the machine. The controller is further configured to create a map indicating the path on the terrain based on the geometry and the grade of the path.
Although the system of the '550 publication may map terrain, it may be inefficient and inaccurate. For example, the system of the '550 publication maps terrain based solely on machine parameters. This can lead to inaccurate elevation and contour information on the terrain map. In addition, the terrain map of the '550 publication may function to map only areas directly beneath the machine. As a result, an incomplete terrain map may be created.
The disclosed system is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.